JOURNEYS TO THE COUNTRYSIDE. VOLUME TWO

16.TEN APPEARANCES

Ten participants led by action’s
organizers gathered in the middle of a vast snowy field surrounded by
woods, totally unaware of either the action’s title or what it was
going to be like.

Onto a board (sized 60x90 cm)
ten reels of sturdy white thread were attached using vertically battered
nails, each reel 200 to 300 meters long. Each participant was prompted
to grasp one thread’s end and walk towards the surrounding forest,
unreeling the thread. The movement was to begin at organizers’ command.

Participants were instructed
to walk in a straight line, reach the forest and then proceed into the
woods, until losing sight of the field (50-100 m approximately).

Therefore, each participant’s
path length measured up to 300-400 meters approximately. Movement across
the field and into the forest demanded much physical effort, as the
depth of the snow measured up to 50-100 centimeters. Also by preliminary
instructions, after finishing his itinerary a participant was to draw
out the other end of the thread with a paper attached to it containing
factographic text (organizers’ names, time and place of action).

As there were no further instructions,
after drawing out the factography a participant was to act at his own
will, .i.e. either return to the field’s center or leave the scene
by walking father into the forest. Eight participants returned to initial
position within an hour (I. Pivovarova, N. Kozlov, V. Skersis, L. Talochkin,
O. Vasilyev, I. Kabakov, I. Chuikov, Yu. Albert), two left the scene (V. Nekrasov,
A. Zhigalov).

Those participants who had
come back were given photographs (30x40 cm) glued onto cardboard. Each
photo depicted an area of the forest that each particular participant
entered in the beginning, and a small indistinct human figure emerging
from the woods. All photographs were labeled, each label contained authors’
names, name of the action – “Ten Appearances” – and the event
depicted, for example: “Appearance of I. Chuikov on the 1st
of February, 1981”, for each participant respectively. These photographs
were manufactured one week prior to the action: the organizers filmed
themselves in “blind zones”, the same where the participants went
and came back one week later.